We Who Live
by Rigid Flow
Summary: "I never should've saved that girl." He told himself, knowing full well that it was a lie. He'd do it again, if given the chance. Because now, he didn't see her as a simple tag-along anymore, now, he saw her as something much more important: Family.


**A/N: Hello everybody. As you can tell, this is my first story, so if you have any criticisms, feel free to tell me.**

 _Clementine ran through the woods, trying to lose the bandits that were chasing her. She had thrown a rock at them earlier, trying to give her friend Christa enough of a distraction to escape. It looks like her plan had worked a little too well though, as the bandits had now turned their attention to her._

" _Get back here you little shit, you're gonna pay for that!" Her pursuer called angrily after her. Clementine only ran faster, adrenaline pumping through her blood as she desperately tried to outrun the older man. Unfortunately this proved futile as the older man's longer legs allowed him to quickly catch up to Clementine, where he then proceeded to pull her down roughly to the hard forest ground. Clementine frantically started screaming for help and kicking the bandits hand, trying to force him to release the vice-like grip he had on her leg._

" _Shut the fuck up girl! You'll have every walker from a damn mile on our asses with that screaming of yo-AAAHHH!" He never got to finish what he was saying because several walkers had just come out of the woods behind him and started biting his neck and arms. With the bandit now preoccupied, Clementine was able to successfully shake his hand off of her leg and start backing away from the gruesome scene-only to back straight into another walker. Clementine picked up a rock and threw it straight at the walkers face, knocking it down before it could bite her. Clem was becoming increasingly panicked now, as more and more walkers were turning away from the body of the now dead bandit and focusing on her instead. In a desperate attempt to put more distance between herself and the walkers, Clementine forced herself up, turned around, and blindly stumbled forward as fast as she could, barely paying attention to where she was going. Unfortunately, this was (literally) her downfall. She wasn't even able to take three steps before she was falling down into a steep ravine filled with freezing water..._

 _People often say that drowning is a peaceful, painless event... They're liars. Clementines' next few moments were some of the most painful and terrifying of her life. Between accidentally breathing in the ice cold water, and being continually hurled against the hard rocks, her lungs were empty before long. "Please don't let me die like this…" Was her last thought before she finally succumbed to her exhaustion. The last thing she saw before she lost consciousness was someone's hand reaching down to grab her own…_

* * *

Trees rustling slightly in the gentle breeze. Birds singing their cheerful melodies high up in the branches. Calm river flowing gracefully on its endless journey. Small animals frolicking happily in the dense forest. It was peaceful... It was, beautiful... It was interrupted by the sound of a young girl emptying her stomach.

Clementine rolled onto her back after throwing up for the third time, wiping the last traces of spittle from her chin.

"I can't believe I made it.." Clem thought out loud.

"Yeah, I'm surprised too actually, you looked pretty dead a few minutes ago." A young male voice said from behind her.

Clementine whipped her head around in surprise, coming face-to-face with a caucasian boy who looked around 15 years of age. He had short brown hair, green eyes, and a long scar running from the top of his left eye to the bottom right corner of his chin. He was wearing black cargo pants, combat boots, and a green hoodie.

"Wait, you saved me?" She asked in confusion, backing up slightly as she did so.

"No shit Sherlock, who else did you think did it, the fish?" He jokingly replied.

"Of course not, but, why did you do it?" She asked, genuinely curious now.

"I was bored." He answered casually.

"You saved me because you we- she was cut off by the growling of her stomach, loudly demanding her to feed it. She blushed, slightly embarrassed that she had completely forgotten how hungry she actually was.

"Ugh, don't even bother asking, I'll see if I have any spare food in my bag." The boy said while he was scrounging through his pack.

"Thanks…" She mumbled appreciatively.

"Huh, seems like I only have this one can of fruit left.. You take it." He grudgingly said, shoving her the fruit and a spoon.

She reluctantly took the small can of fruit, sending him a grateful look before quickly opening the can and taking small bites, trying to make it last. It was barely enough to satisfy her though, and the whole can was finished in less than a minute.

"Damn, I didn't realize you were that hungry kid." The boy commented when she was finished eating. Clementine only nodded in response.

"Now that you're done, I suggest we climb out of here. It's not exactly safe down here, and besides I'll need to find more food soon."

Clementine looked up, noticing for the first time that they were at the bottom of a steep hill, on a sandy beach that was right next the river from last night.

"Here, we can use this." He said while pointing to a fragmented pier. "I'll climb to the top, and pull you up." He shouted to her as he was climbing.

"Okay, I'm ready." Clementine answered while she was stretching her arms up to him.

"Alright, on three. One two three!" He pulled her up as quickly as he could, careful to avoid the jagged pieces of wood. Once they were both at the top, they took stock of their surroundings, finding that they were on the outskirts of a dense forest filled with huge trees.

"Let's keep moving, there's nothing here."

"Hey wait, I still don't know your name." Clem called after him.

"You don't? Huh, guess you're right." Her companion said as he continued walking.

"So, are you going to tell me?" Clem asked when she caught up to him.

"Tell you what?" He responded.

"Your name."

"Why would I do that?"

"Because I asked you." She answered, looking slightly irritated now.

"Uh, no, you never asked me. He replied, beginning to smirk slightly.

"Yes I did." Clem quietly yelled.

"No you didn't."

"Yes I did!"

"No, you didn't."

"Yes I did!" Clem nearly screamed, losing her temper.

"Hahahahahaha! Relax kid, I'm just messing with you. My name is Noah, Noah Matthews." He finally revealed, giving her a slight bow. "And you are?"

"Clementine. _Jerk…_ " She muttered, almost as an afterthought.

"Ouch, that stings. I feel _really_ bad about myself now." Noah teased, giving her a full-on smirk now.

"Whatever, let's just keep moving." Clem said with a roll of her eyes.

Still chuckling, he replied with a simple: "Alright then, let's go."

They continued on trekking through the undergrowth - neither of them spotting anything of importance other than the occasional small animal or two - until they eventually came across a dog in the middle of the woods. The dog turned around to inspect the two newcomers, before baring it's canines and growling at them threateningly.

Noah stepped forward, simultaneously pulling out a previously unnoticed knife from a sheath which was strapped to his thigh, and cautiously advanced towards the dog.

"Wait!" Clementine said, reaching her arm out to stop him. "Let me try." Speaking soft words of comfort, Clem slowly reached out her hand, and gently pet the dog. Apparently the dog didn't like that, as he started growling - Albeit less menacingly now - and backing away from her.

Okay, you don't like that. Got it. Sorry." Clem apologized to the dog. The dog turned around and trotted towards a group of bushes a little ways away, before turning its head towards them, as if it was beckoning them to follow it.

"What's he doing?" Clem wondered aloud, walking over to the dog. After seeing Clem get close enough, the dog ran further into the bushes, disappearing from sight.

"Hey, what'd you find, boy? Where are you going? Wait up!" She called after the dog, quickly following it into the bushes.

"Oh yeah… that seems like a good idea. Let's go follow a random dog that we just met. I mean, it's not like anything could happen, right? Noah muttered to himself as he followed them both.

Emerging on the other side of the undergrowth, they were surprised an old and abandoned camp-site. An old van sat in the corner of the clearing, broken and rusted with age. Two damaged tents lay on either side of the clearing, and besides that there were only a few boxes scattered around the camp-site.

"Looks pretty run down, but you never know." Clem commented upon inspecting the place.

"Agreed. Let's look around, see if we can find some food." Noah said to Clem as he was rummaging through one of the boxes.

"Okay." Clem agreed, walking over to the aged van. _It must've been here a while._ Clem thought to herself upon further inspection of the rusted van. Peering into the side of the vehicle, found a box that was filled with random junk. One of the items in particular caught Clem's eye, and after picking it up, she found it to be a small photo of a family smiling happily together.

"Looks like they were a happy family once… I just hope they left some food behind." She said quietly to herself. Clementine left the van after finding nothing of use, and decided to check the rest of the clearing before they left. Moving on to tents first, she was disheartened to find them both picked clean of anything that would help them. _Not much of a tent anymore._ _Scavengers probably got here first._ She thought glumly to herself. As she was moving on to search elsewhere, she became distracted when the dog started to bark loudly at something out of view.

"Hey boy? What's the matter? Clem called out to him, hoping to calm him down.

"Hey Clem, I'd rather NOT get eaten right now, so quiet the dog down will ya?" Noah said irritably.

"Alright, let me see what's got him so worked up." She replied as she was walking over to see what the dog was barking at. When she got close enough to see what the dog was looking at, she was surprised to find a walker, tied to a tree, with a small pocket knife buried to the hilt in its arm.

"It's okay boy, he's dead." Clementine said soothingly to the dog.

"We still need to destroy the brain, or that dog won't shut up. Noah commented, walking up behind her.

"Yeah, I know. Do you want to do it? Or…"

"I got it." Stepping forward, Noah unsheathed his knife, and in one quick motion he turned it around in his palm to a reverse grip, and plunged the blade into the walker's eye.

"Here." He grunted, handing Clem the other knife after he had pulled it out of the walker's arm.

"You might wanna wipe it off first, it smells like shit."

"Well it _was_ buried in this man's arm for who knows how long, so of course it's gonna smell bad." Clem replied while she was wiping the bloody blade off on her pants.

"True. Anyways, while you were busy over here, I finished gathering everything I could from this place. I checked everywhere. Everywhere except for that trash can over there…" Noah told her, beginning to smirk slightly.

"And let me guess, you want _me_ to do it. Don't you." Clem replied, giving him a slight glare as she did so.

"Well I never said that, but if you're offering, that sounds like a great idea to me!" He said, chuckling at her expense. "I need to go do something Clem, I'll be back soon. Don't follow me." And without so much as a backward glance, He walked away from the clearing, quickly disappearing from sight amongst the thick foliage.

"Jerk." Clementine muttered angrily once he was out of earshot. Apparently, the dog picked up on her anger, as he attempted to cheer her up with licks and nuzzles on her hand.

"I guess it's just me and you now bud." Clem said, affectionately rubbing the thick fur around his belly. The dog sighed contentedly, rolling onto his back and allowing Clem to reach more of his belly. Looking down at the newly exposed skin, Clem was surprised to find a collar around the dog's neck, with the name Sam on it. "Good boy Sam, good boy." She said happily to her furry companion.

After rubbing Sam for a few minutes, Clem decided that she might as well search through the trash as quickly as she could, and get it over with. Getting up and brushing herself off, she walked over to the trash can, standing over it uncertainly.

"Well… here we go…" Rolling her sleeves up to her elbows, she quickly dug her hands in.

Ignoring the flies, she shoved past empty wrappers, spoiled food, and something wet and cold that she couldn't quite make out… until she felt her hand touch what felt like a food can of some sorts. Quickly grabbing hold of the object and pulling it up, she was pleasantly surprised to find that it was actually an unopened can of beans that she was holding.

"Look Sam, a can!" Clem said excitedly. She went to go sit down on a nearby log, took out her pocket knife, and held it poised above the lid of the can. "Please don't be bad." She prayed, hoping the food inside was edible. Using her knife as a makeshift can-opener, she quickly pried the lid off the can. Inspecting the food inside, she could tell it was still edible. "...Thank God.." She took a few handfuls of the beans, making sure to leave enough for Noah, though she badly wanted to just devour the whole thing and sate her hunger. She wasn't the only one. Sam looked up at her expectantly from his position near her feet. He could tell she had food. "... I guess you're pretty hungry too." She took a small handful of the beans from the can, and offered them to Sam.

"Here ya go boy." Sam leapt forward, reaching for the can in her other hand instead, and accidently knocking it out of Clementines grip. The contents inside the can fell out, and Sam started to lap them up. "Hey, don't eat it all!" Clementine said, quickly reaching down to pick it back up. Seeing Her take the food away, Sam lunged for her arm with his teeth, and dragged her off of the log. "Get off me Sam!" Clem shouted while she was punching him on the muzzle, desperately trying to make him release his grip on her arm. Sam ignored the blows he was being dealt, and continued to tear into her arm with his sharp canines. Clem was losing blood fast, and Sam's teeth were getting dangerously deep in her arm. if she didn't get him off soon, there could be a real problem. She gave up on punching the dog, and instead began kicking him, putting as much force into each blow as she could. After a few forceful kicks, she finally managed to knock him off, sending him flying a few feet away from her. Sam landed in a heap, stunned for a few seconds, before gathering his wits and charging at her once again. Clementine raised her arms up in a half-hearted attempt to protect her face, and waited, bracing herself. She sat like that for a few tense moments, before she realized: The sound of Sam's growls and barks, which had only a minute ago filled the clearing, were now strangely absent. She slowly lowered her arms from their protective position over her face, and hesitantly looked around. She found Sam's body lying on the ground in front of her, with a knife buried to the hilt in his side.

* * *

He trudged through the woods for a while, keeping the steady pace of a quick jog. Senses on high-alert, he scanned the forest for the dozenth time, making sure he wasn't being followed, while simultaneously checking to see if any of those _creatures_ were around. He was back in his element. Alone, no one else to worry about, no one to hold him back. To some, it might seem like a very lonely way to live, but to Noah, it was the _best_ way to live, now that the old way of life had all but ended. after running for a few minutes longer, he decided he was far enough. Coming to a stop near a fallen tree, he unshouldered the bag he had been carrying, and rummaged through it for a few minutes, before he found what he was looking for: A walkie-talkie. He took the item out of his bag, walked over to the trunk of the fallen tree, and sat down, making himself as comfortable as he could on the rough terrain.

"And now we wait…" He muttered to himself, as an unwelcome feeling of unease settled in his stomach. In the meantime, he decided he might as well do some maintenance on his M9 Beretta.

He carefully un-holstered the weapon from his hip, and laid it down on the ground in front of him. Taking a moment to review the steps in his head, he methodically disassembled the gun, cleaning each part with a cloth from his bag, being very careful to not damage anything. It was one of his most prized possessions, along with his Night stalker bowie knife. It was the last thing his father gave to him before he- _Don't think about it._ He firmly told himself. He was distracted from his unpleasant thoughts by the sound of his walkie-talkie suddenly crackling to life. He was grateful for the distraction, until he remembered what that meant.

" _This is base to Noah: Noah, do you read me?"_ Came the mechanically distorted voice of a male from the radio.

" _This is Noah, I read you loud and clear."_

" _Have you found them yet?"_ Noah nearly scoffed at how predictable the man was. Straight to the point as usual.

" _No…"_

He could practically feel the other man's rage at the answer.

" _I gave you three weeks, Noah. You should've caught up to them by now. I'm beginning to think you don't really want to find them."_

" _That's bullshit and you know it. It doesn't matter how good of a tracker I am, they had a two day head-start, and seeing as I can't just fucking sprint for 48 hours straight, you'll have to forgive me for taking longer than you thought I would."_ Noah huffed angrily.

There was a brief moment of silence, as the man considered what Noah had said, before he replied:

" _I'm giving you one more day, Noah. You'd better not disappoint me, you know what happens if you do."_

" _I'll find them, Bill_. _Count on it."_ Noah said determinedly.

" _You'd better hope you do, boy."_ The man's radio went silent, signaling the end of their conversation.

"Fuckin' asshole…" Noah muttered to himself once he was sure the man couldn't hear him. Standing up from his position near the fallen tree, he quickly reassembled his M9, packed up his bag, and started making his way back to where he left Clem. _I'll need to leave her soon, I hope she'll be alright-_

"Get off me Sam!"

Noah's head perked up at hearing Clementine's panicked voice carry through the wind. She sounded like she was in trouble. He wasted no time and starting running as fast as he could back the way he came. He had gone out pretty far, but he was a fast runner, so he was confident he would get back in time. The wind blew fiercely in his ears as he streaked past the trees, bushes, and foliage that made up the gigantic forest, and he pushed himself to go even faster. Continuing at this speed without stopping, he arrived at the edge of the clearing in less than a minute. He hurriedly scanned the area for Clem, quickly spotting her crouching a few yards away with her arms raised protectively over her face, as Sam leapt for her neck with his teeth bared, about to deal what Noah could tell would be a death-blow. He knew he was to far away to reach her in time, and so acting on instinct, he quickly drew his knife from its sheath, took aim, and hurled it as hard as he could.

 _Huh, guess those years of hard work actually paid off._ He thought to himself. His blade had gone right through Sam's heart. "Clementine, are you okay?"

"Y-yeah, I'm okay…" Clem said, clutching her arm and staring down at Sam sadly.

"Let me see your arm."

She hesitantly lifted her hand off of her arm, wincing as her injury made contact with the open air. They both blanched at the site of her wound.

"Damn kid, that's a nasty bite you got there."

"Oh really? I hadn't noticed."

"Very funny, smart-ass. I have some bandages in my bag, that'll help to stop the bleeding, but your gonna need some antibiotics so that cut doesn't get infected." Noah told her, grabbing said bandages from his bag. "Go sit on that log over there, I'll bandage that wound for you."

"Thanks…" Clem said gratefully, sitting down.

Noah sat down next to her, and started wrap her arm in the gray-colored, slightly dirty bandage.

"Now keep in mind, I was never that good at wrapping bandages, or really anything for that matter, so this _might_ turn out looking a little weird." Noah warned her, thinking back to all of his previous attempts at wrapping things.

"That's okay, as long as it stops the bleeding." Clem said reassuringly.

After several minutes of tying, untying, and retying again, Noah was finally somewhat pleased with how it turned out.

"Wow… you really weren't kidding." Clem remarked, inspecting the very loose wrap Noah had made.

"Ha, you think this is bad? You should see my Christmas wrappings." He chuckled.

"No, I think I'd rather not." Clementine replied, grinning.

"Yes, that's probably for the best…. Anyways, it's time we left this place, there's nothing here anymore, and we need to find some antibiotics for you."

"Yeah… let's go…" Clem stood up, looking sadly at Sam's body for the last time.

"You go on ahead, I need to… you know, get my knife."

Clem nodded, a look of understanding crossing her face, before walking slowly out of the clearing.

Noah sighed, turning his attention to the dog once Clem had left. He got up and advanced to the spot where Sam lay, kneeling beside him. "Sorry I had to kill ya boy, but you were kind've being an asshole. Plus, you were about to kill Clem so… yeah…." He trailed off awkwardly, realizing he was talking to a dead body. Without wasting any more time, he grabbed the handle of his knife and pulled, grimacing at the sound it made when it came out of Sam's flesh. "Well... goodbye now, boy."

And with that, Noah got up, wiped the blade on his pants, and started walking after Clem.


End file.
